Alton Towers lockdown battle detailed in new documentary
Alton Towers is set to feature in a new documentary tonight detailing the theme park's battle to survive during lockdown.
The Channel 4 show, Alton Towers: A Rollercoaster Year, features interviews with staff and bosses as they prepare to reopen in July after being shut down for 13 weeks due to the pandemic.
The Staffordshire resort, which also hosts hotels, a waterpark and golf, is temporarily shutting down again on Thursday after the Government announced a new lockdown.
Alton Towers had been due to celebrate its 40th birthday when Covid hit in March, forcing all plans to be put on hold as the doors closed and all but 90 of its 2,000-strong workforce were furloughed. It reopened on July 4 to 4,000 visitors.
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The documentary shows how 500 acres of gardens had to be cut back, while birds and wasps had nested amongst the rides as they had not been operating for so long.
There were doubts whether some rides could reopen at all due to social distancing, with the famous Th13teen ride requiring test runs with water filled dummies to see if the reduced capacity could meet the G-Force required to make it safe.
Among the stories told is that of 26-year-old Alton Towers show captain Daisy, who took a temporary job as a porter in The Royal Stoke Hospital when she was furloughed.
She says: "Most days I would go home and cry, it felt like such a lot of pressure."
Operations manager Francis Jackson, said the attraction was doing all it would to "make sure we keep the virus out of the park and help people escape from what is going on".
He added: "We make our money in the summer and reinvest in the winter and we have already missed most of the summer so it is a very uncertain time for us.
"Never before in our 40 years have we faced such an uphill challenge."
Alton Towers: A Rollercoaster Year is on tonight at 10.15pm on Channel 4.
